Obama and Merkel warn Trump to tread cautiously in world affairs

Published 3:11 pm, Thursday, November 17, 2016

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama smile as they arrive for their joint news conference at the German Chancellery in Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama smile as they arrive for their joint news conference at the German Chancellery in Berlin.

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press

Obama and Merkel warn Trump to tread cautiously in world affairs

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BERLIN — President Obama prodded Donald Trump on Thursday to take a tougher approach toward Russia, urging the president-elect to “stand up” to Moscow when it violates global norms. The Kremlin accused Obama of trying to lock in bad relations before Trump takes office.

In Europe for his last time as president, Obama said he doesn’t expect Trump to mirror his own strategy on Russia, and hopes his successor will work constructively with the superpower where appropriate. Yet he insisted the U.S. must not gloss over deep disagreements over Syria, Ukraine and basic democratic values.

“My hope is that he does not simply take a realpolitik approach,” Obama said, using a German term for a foreign policy driven by expediency. He said he hopes the businessman won’t cut deals with Russia if it hurts other countries or “just do whatever is convenient at the time.”

Obama’s remarks in a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel marked his most explicit attempt since the election to influence the policies Trump will pursue as president. Obama has privately urged Trump not to obliterate the efforts of the last eight years, but in public he has tried to avoid boxing in his successor.

Yet Trump’s unexpected victory has put Obama in the unwelcome position of having to reassure foreign leaders that Trump won’t follow through on alarming positions he staked out in his campaign, such as the notion the U.S. might not defend its NATO allies. NATO members and other European countries are worried that under Trump, the U.S. will stop trying to police Russia’s behavior the way it has under Obama.

Most concerning to U.S. allies are Trump’s effusive comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the first world leaders he spoke to after winning the election. The Kremlin has said Putin and Trump agreed in that call to try to fully normalize U.S.-Russia relations, an alarming prospect for Russia’s neighbors who fear the U.S. will let sanctions on Moscow lapse and acquiesce to Russia’s behavior in Ukraine and Syria.

Putin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told Russian news agencies that Obama’s administration was “doing everything it can to drive bilateral ties into such a deadlock that would make it difficult for a new team to get them out from, if it wishes to do so.”

The White House declined to comment on that accusation.

Germany’s Merkel, for her part, said she was approaching the incoming Trump administration with “an open mind” and was encouraged that the presidential process in the U.S. was “working smoothly” so far.

Obama’s closest partner on the world stage, Merkel has been instrumental in Obama’s efforts to coordinate U.S. and European approaches toward Russia, as well as other conflicts including the Syria crisis and the fight against the Islamic State. Thursday’s meeting was the last for Obama — who leaves office in January — and Merkel, who declined to say whether she plans to run for re-election.

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